In May 2006, Eric Sargis, Associate Curator of Mammalogy in the Yale
Peabody Museum’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology, co-directed a crew
that spent 4 weeks collecting northern smooth-tailed treeshrews (Dendrogale murina) and other small mammals in the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in the Mondulkiri Province of Cambodia.

The team worked roughly 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) west of the
Vietnam border on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The area east of the Mekong
River is biogeographically significant because the river is a major
barrier that prevents the dispersal of small mammals. Many species that
inhabit one side of the river are absent on the other side, and those
on both sides are often genetically distinct.

This expedition was funded by the National Geographic Society and
the University of Alaska Museum, and supported by the Wildlife
Conservation Society.

Photo credit: Google Earth

During their stay, team members lived in an old logging camp now
occupied by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Cambodian
Forestry Administration. The team lived in the building on the far
right and used the porch as an outdoor lab to prepare and dry collected
specimens.

Eric Sargis and Orn Samart, one of the team’s Cambodian field
assistants, cross a stream on their way to the forest to set 3 trap
lines, each with 50 traps. The team passed through a Cambodian farm
twice a day, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, to check
the traps.

The team worked in a dense bamboo forest inhabited by fauna that
included tigers, gibbons, monkeys, elephants and small mammals like
treeshrews, rodents and bats. Here Eric Sargis checks a snap trap; he
is standing in a crater created by the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail
by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

In addition to snap traps, the team also used Sherman traps and
Tomahawk traps, like the one shown here. The traps were usually baited
with a mixture of peanut butter and dry oats, but the team also used
other foods like bananas, fish and insects. Traps were either tied to
branches or camouflaged on the ground.

During the team’s expedition, the Cambodian Forestry Administration
confiscated several live animals from poachers attempting to cross back
into Vietnam. Here Edward Pollard and Chea Chen of the Wildlife
Conservation Society prepare to release a recently confiscated and
endangered Elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) back into the wild.

The Cambodian Forestry Administration also confiscated this rare pangolin (Manis javanica).
Protected by their scaly armor, pangolins curl up into tight balls when
frightened. They use their powerful tails to hang from tree branches
and their long, sharp claws to burrow into ant and termite mounds.
Pangolins are the target of poachers because their scales are believed
to have many medicinal benefits and their meat is considered a delicacy
in parts of Asia.

The expedition’s focus was this extremely rare northern smooth-tailed treeshrew (Dendrogale murina).
Before this field trip, there was only one skeleton of this species in
any natural history museum around the world. This may be the only
published photograph of this understudied animal.

In addition to collecting specimens, the team studied the behavior of the northern smooth-tailed treeshrews (Dendrogale murina). Here, Link Olson is attempting to videotape this species, while Edward Pollard observes it with his binoculars.

At the end of the expedition, co-directors Eric Sargis and Link Olson
display the collected specimens to Orn Samart and Khiev Rhitiphorn,
SBCP Deputy Director of the Cambodian Forestry Administration at Seima.
Specimens collected during the trip were deposited at the University of
Alaska Museum. Some Cambodian specimens will eventually be shipped to
the Yale Peabody Museum.